The Spicy Shark – Megalodon Carolina Reaper

Bitter: ⭐⭐✰✰✰

Salty: ⭐✰✰✰✰

Sour: ⭐⭐✰✰✰

Sweet: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰

Umami: ⭐⭐✰✰✰

Heat: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐✰✰✰✰✰

Quick Flavor Notes: Cherries, reaper, scorpion, floral, garlic, fruity

Texture: Thin with some small bits and pieces

Recommended: Yes

Ingredients: Apple Cider, Tart Cherry Juice, Scorpion Pepper, Onion, Red Wine Vinegar, Poblano Pepper, Pineapple, Water, Garlic, Beets, Carolina Reaper Pepper, Molasses, Avocado, Maple Syrup, Ginger, Salt, White Vinegar, Seasonings, Fruit Pectin, Hibiscus, Spices

This wasn’t the sauce I’d planned to open next. I was craving something tomato-y so sorted through my unopened boxes of sauce to find the one from Ledwon’s that I’d ordered back in December eager to try their Mourning Mary. Unfortunately after I opened the carboard shipping box I knew something was wrong – one of the bottles had shattered en-route and while it hadn’t soaked through the outer shipping box, it has created a scary moldy situation inside the entire box, so unfortunately in the interest of health and safety the whole box (thankfully only four sauces) had to go right into the trash.

While I’ll eventually re-order form Ledwon’s, I really do want to try that Mourning Mary (and I need to start opening boxes of sauces as soon as I receive them now to check for any damage), I also realized I had a variety pack from The Spicy Shark I’d ordered last year and had never gotten around to finishing. In the mood for some heat I went straight to the top of the scale in that box set with their Megalodon Carolina Reaper sauce.

The Spicy Shark sauces are the epitome of the “kitchen sink” approach. Their ingredients lists are always an adventure – combining things I’d never have thought about using together. Their owner also seems to have a sweet tooth as all of their sauces are on the sweeter side. In this case the sweetness comes from apple cider, tart cherry juice, pineapple, molasses, and maple syrup. That’s countered by a pepper blend including scorpion peppers, poblano peppers, and Carolina reapers as well aromatics such as onions and garlic. Something interesting in this sauce is the use of hibiscus, most commonly seen in the Mexican agua fresca known as Jamaica. If I’d take any issue with the ingredients involved in this sauce it’s that The Spicy Shark calls this a Carolina Reaper sauce right on the front of the bottle, yet Carolina Reapers are in the least quality of any of the peppers used. Despite all of the sweet ingredients the aroma of the sauce is almost all savory, with the garlic coming forward. The texture is thin with some small bits of spices, peppers, and vegetables inside.

The sweeter ingredients come much more forward in the flavor of The Spicy Shark Megalodon. Cherries and reapers are a classic combination and I’ve found that both reapers and scorpion peppers can have some fruity cherry-like flavors. This is a bright sauce, as reaper sauces tend to be. The ginger, cherries, hibiscus, and apple cider all work to reinforce that bright floral flavor, especially with the scorpion peppers in the pepper blend as well as they’re naturally floral. With so many ingredients in the mix it’s hard to pin-point where each flavor is coming from, and some, like the poblanos which have a very mild flavor, seem to get completely lost. Similarly I’m not sure what avocado is adding here – there’s really no creaminess to this sauce nor avocado flavor, but I’ll defer to the saucemakers at The Spicy Shark that it’s doing something behind the scenes. There is enough pepper flavor as well as the savory elements such as the onion and garlic to help balance the sweetness, and most importantly enough heat so that the sweetness doesn’t become cloying. Since The Spicy Shark sauces are all on the milder side for the peppers used I’ve found that the sweetness can overwhelm in some of their milder sauces such as their Nurse Shark Jalapeno and their Caribbean Reef Shark Scotch Bonnet. While this is mild for a reaper sauce, maybe about on the same level of heat as the Trader Joe’s Habanero sauce I recently tried or perhaps a touch hotter, it does have heat that kicks in quickly and a burn that lingers for at least several minutes.

The bottle suggests using this sauce on burgers, grilled meats, eggs and more. I’d recently grilled up a skirt steak so tried this as a steak sauce and found it does work well there, the fruity sweetness playing almost like a brighter version of a traditional steak sauce. With how free-flowing this sauce is it’s also great as a wing sauce with some added butter to help thicken it up. I don’t normally go for the sweet-heat style wings but I actually enjoyed this in that role, and sweet heat can be a nice change of pace time to time. It’s not the best mexican-use sauce. It was OK in burritos and on some tacos but I think I’d prefer something more purely savory there.

The Spicy Shark Megalodon is a good introduction to Carolina Reaper hot sauces if you don’t have a major heat tolerance built up yet. It has a kick, but not so much that it will leave you on the floor in pain. The sweetness can also help make it more palatable for those who may be sensitive to the sometimes acrid flavor of super-hots and also helps soften the vinegar element for those who dislike that. I’m happy to give it my recommendation. This sauce is also all natural with no artificial preservatives, flavors, colors, or thickeners.